Text messaging, such as Short Message Service (SMS) messaging, is a popular mode of communication. To send an SMS message a user composes a text message by typing a short message into a computer, cell phone, or other compatible electronic device. After the user composes the message and presses a “send” key, the resulting message is sent to an SMS message center or SMSC. The SMSC forwards the short message to the destination computer, cell phone, or other device capable of receiving and displaying the message. The destination device generally receives the message a short time thereafter.
Voicemail is another popular messaging service. Voicemail messages allow a calling party to leave a message that is stored in a virtual mailbox designated for the unavailable or unresponsive called party. The called party can retrieve his/her voicemail messages by dialing into the voicemail system.
Text messaging allows a called party to receive messages without having to connect to a voicemail system. For some people, such as those with disabilities or physical impairments, text messaging is not possible or convenient. Although users can send and receive messages quickly with text messaging, text messaging can be dangerous at times, for example, while driving. Voicemail allows a calling party to send a message when it is inconvenient or impossible to type a message.
Current technology, such as speech recognition and speech synthesis, attempts to bridge the gap between voicemail messages and text messages. Products are known in the art that use speech recognition and speech synthesis to send voicemail messages as text to wireless devices. Speech recognition translates spoken words into text. Conversely, speech synthesis presents text as speech. While speech recognition has improved significantly, the technology is not without its deficiencies. Individual speech patterns, language differences, dialects, and accents, among other things, make achieving accurate and precise speech translation difficult. When speech recognition is paired with speech synthesis, the probability of the resulting message being different from the original message increases dramatically.
Therefore, assuming an increase in the availability and use of voicemail to text message services results in a need for systems and methods that provide confirmation functions to ensure the correct intended text message is sent to a called party.